Months after local law enforcement sounded the alarm on Missouri's incarceration reform measures, Sheriff Clay Chism's fears appear to have come true.
A Columbia man accused of violating parole was captured Dec. 11. After attempts to return him to jail failed, the man was released, and on Dec. 28, he was involved in a robbery and car chase in Callaway County, Chism said.
"I am routinely asked, 'Why is (insert name) already back on the streets?'" Chism wrote in a Thursday post to Facebook on the Callaway County Sheriff's Office page. "That is a fair question, and frankly, a question I find myself asking on a nearly daily basis now. Every darn day."
Incarceration reform
In 2019, local officials were vocal about overcrowding (among other issues) at the Callaway County Jail. Callaway County isn't alone: Prisons and jails across the state are packed. As of 2017, Missouri had the eighth highest incarceration rate in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
"On our current trajectory, we'll be 2,000 prison beds short by 2021," state Rep. Cody Smith, R-Jasper, said during one February hearing on the matter. "We'll need two new prisons soon, at the cost of $485 million over the next five years."
In recent years, state lawmakers passed a number of bills and reforms aimed at addressing prison and jail populations. For example, House Bill 113 increases flexibility in mandatory minimum sentencing for nonviolent offenders. In July, new bail laws limited courts' abilities to set bail for many offenses, including some felonies.
"Our extreme effort to combat drug offenses, which I know drives so many other crimes in the county, will definitely be affected by this change," Chism said in a Facebook post at the time. "I feel obligated to proactively inform you about matters I believe have the potential to adversely affect public safety in this county. I definitely share your concerns."
Perhaps most relevant to this case is the statewide push to return fewer people on probation and parole to prison over technical violations to their parole conditions: for example, failing to maintain employment or missing meetings with officers.
As of 2017, about half of new admissions were for technical violations of probation and parole, according to the Missouri Department of Corrections.
"To be blunt, dealing with the new bonding rules and now the MDOC parole issues all in the matter of months has really heightened the need for elected sheriffs to take a stand and represent their constituents," Chism said Friday.
The post
Chism said prior to efforts to reduce re-incarceration for technical violations, an offender violating their probation or parole conditions would be "quickly sought by the state prison system."
"Now, to be frank, it is complete hell in most cases to get a parole violator returned to the state prison system," he wrote Thursday. "Even once a parole warrant is issued for a violator, once they are arrested, it is round two of complete hell getting them actually returned to the prison. Parole violators can literally be arrested now, taken to the county jail, and released back onto the streets before even going back to state prison."
Chism said he's been considering posting a public letter on the topic for a while, but he was waiting for the perfect example. That example, he said, came in the form of 26-year-old Columbia resident John Garrett.
Garrett was sentenced in 2014 to six years in prison for second-degree burglary, according to Missouri Casenet. Within months, he was out serving probation. In 2017, he was sent back to prison after violating probation. But, Chism said, the DOC released him on parole Aug. 21, 2018. DOC issued a warrant for his arrest Oct. 15 after he violated parole again, he said.
On Dec. 11, CCSO deputies investigated a disturbance near Stephens and arrested Garrett in the process. Chism said the Callaway County Jail contacted DOC on Dec. 13 requesting documents to return Garrett to state prison. He said DOC instead sent over a representative to speak with Garrett and subsequently told Chism's office and the jail to release Garrett.
"You can't make this up," Chism wrote. "A parole violator can enjoy 57 days 'on the run,' get arrested by your hard-working deputies, and his punishment for violating parole ends up being a whopping 46 hours and 45 minutes in the Callaway County Jail before release back into the community."
Then, at 5 p.m. Dec. 28, a Boone County man called the Boone County Sheriff's Department about a robbery. The man told the BCSD three people assaulted him, threatened him with a handgun and demanded the keys to his vehicle. The man handed his keys and the cellphone over, and all three left in the man's vehicle, the BCSD said.
After a traffic stop attempt failed and the vehicle fled into Callaway County, the CCSO, Highway Patrol and Fulton Police Department joined the pursuit. The vehicle nearly struck a FPD officer while avoiding tire-deflation devices, Chism said. Ultimately, all three were arrested.
One of them - the one facing the most charges, including first-degree robbery, felony resisting arrest, unlawful use of drug paraphernalia, hindering prosecution of a felony and driving without a license - was Garrett.
"Community members and officers lives should not have been on the line by Garrett's actions," Chism stated. "He should have been in state prison on that evening; not putting our community at risk by his latest escapade."
Chism added he doesn't blame local probation and parole officers or the Fulton Reception and Diagnostic center for the incident.
"These fine employees too have their own hands cuffed by the administrative decisions being made by their department's superiors in Jefferson City," he said. "The shots are being called there, and like us, they have no choice but to deal with the aftermath."
He also voiced opposition to "incentive programs for convicts," saying "felons" had been provided with tickets to a Missouri amusement park for "good behavior."
"We hear a lot these days about the need to 'rehabilitate' and 'treat' offenders," Chism wrote. "Your sheriff will tell you, some are worthy of this approach. However some offenders need (to be) 'incapacitated' or 'deterred.'"
The reaction
Chism's post garnered widespread support and was shared more than 880 times as of Saturday, including by the sheriffs of Clinton, Shannon, Oregon and Mississippi counties, the Missouri Sheriffs' Association and numerous other law enforcement officers. Chism described the response as "phenomenal."
"This is just one of a few things I've been saying publicly that sadly is out of our hands," Clinton County Sheriff Larry Fish said. "This will lead to a breaking point, but before we reach that point, how many more victims will it take for this to change?"
However, Karen Pojmann, communication director for the Fulton Reception and Diagnostic Center, disputed some of Chism's claims.
"The suggestion that we're sending offenders to theme parks is false," Pojmann said Friday.
Instead, she said, offenders on probation and parole receive small tokens in return for good behavior: things like squeezable stress balls, hygiene items and gas coupons. According to DOC, "Using reinforcements in response to positive behavior is a more effective motivator than only using sanctions in response to poor behavior." DOC's Missouri Offender Management Matrix does, however, mention tickets to a local attraction as a potential reward.
She also resisted characterizing Garrett's case as the symbol of reform gone wrong.
"A distinction should be made between one case involving one offender and the overall patterns and trends among the 19,000 Missourians released from prison every year," Pojmann said. "About 95 percent of people who go into prison eventually return to the community. The vast majority of crimes do not carry life sentences."
Pojmann said parole decisions are governed by state statute and made by the Parole Board, which "operates somewhat independently from the Missouri Department of Corrections Division of Probation and Parole."
"Population is not a factor in the Parole Board members' decision to revoke or re-release," Pojmann said. "Parole Board members consider the offender's assessed risk and ability to successfully remain within the community."
She said DOC's focus is on making sure people being released from prison have gotten the mental health treatment, job training, addiction treatment and/or other help they need to live on the outside.
"A prison revolving door does not keep our communities safe; it perpetuates a multigenerational cycle crime and re-incarceration," Pojmann said. "We're working to better assess offenders, identify risks and intervene appropriately to help ensure the safety of the public and the success of people involved in the criminal justice system."
On Friday, Chism encouraged worried residents to voice their concerns to state government, adding Callaway County's representatives have already shown support.
"Just like any issue with state government, if our citizens have concerns, they should respectfully convey those concerns to their elected state representatives and senators," he said. "The elected sheriffs all across the state are doing the same. It's important that our local community's voice be heard at the state Capitol."